


Roses and Pines

by Writer_Spry



Category: Gravity Falls, Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Monster Falls (Gravity Falls), Gen, Transformation, summer job AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:14:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 8,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25537882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writer_Spry/pseuds/Writer_Spry
Summary: After the events of Steven turning into a monster, he and his family decides to go have a trip away from home so they go for a trip around Oregon. Dipper and Mabel are sent to their Grunkle Stan for the summer in Gravity Falls. The two meet and befriend each other. However none of them expected to become the very thing they were searching for.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 50





	1. Arriving in the Falls part 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is not the summer job au. Not in the littlest bit. For Stevens on a family road trip. Two gravity falls is the first stop. And number three this is a monster falls au too. I just wanted to get that out of the way for not “this is a rip off” reviews. This is a two parter so that’s why it has an abrupt ending. This will go on for a while and will be long so prepare yourselves

As the car kept rolling the 5 passengers continue chatting about their excitement about their trip starting very soon. They planned to stay at their first stop for a couple a days maximum since it didn’t have much to do there. But there’s a lot of forest and water so it’d be sure to offer something. As they passed the welcoming sign the group started having mixed reactions.

“Well here we’re in Gravity Falls, such a nice name!” exclaimed Steven while driving the car

“What do they mean by Gravity Falls, gravity can’t malfunction… can it?” questioned Pearl

“Chill out P! It’s just a name.” said Amethyst

“Well wherever we are, all that matters is that Steven can enjoy it” Garnet said

“Yeah guys this is Stevens first town so let’s not gonna judge a whole town by its name, luck brought us here for some reason!” concluded Greg realizing that they just parked at a diner

“Well since we’ve been on the road for so long I figured that some of us need to eat so I stopped by this diner! Well I’m guessing it’s a diner since it’s named Greasy’s Diner.” said the teenager as he got out of the white vehicle. The others followed suit as they got inside the diner they sat down at the closest seat and were welcomed by a lady with a permanent wink.

“Welcome to Greasy’s Diner newcomers! How can I help you?” said the lady.  
The part of the group that was gonna eat didn’t know what they wanted obviously but Pearl saved them the trouble. “Me and her won’t be eating and they don’t know what they’ll be ordering.” she said while pointing at Garnet then to Greg, Steven and Amethyst. 

“Well okay I’ll come back soon” the lady then went away.  
After ordering and eating they decided to ask the lady her name and if there is anything interesting in town.

“I’m Lazy Susan and there’s the Mystery Shack here, you must’ve seen it as it’s the only way to get in town!” The group thanked her and went on their way.

“I thought that place said Mystery Hack? But it did look rather old so maybe the s fell off?” The white gem questioned.

“Well from what I saw P, an s was dangling of the building.” The purple gem replied

“Well here we are everyone at the Mystery Shack!” said the teenager as he encouraged everyone to go in line for a ticket.  
Of course everyone did get in line but as soon as they were at the ticket booth they got some strange looks but they ended up just paying for the tickets and getting to the tourist group.

A sign that said ‘break it and pay double for it’ was broken as an old man stepped on it initially crushing it, he wore a fez and a suit with a clearly fake eye patch and an eight ball cane.

“Welcome the the Mystery Shack! Let’s start the… woops. The conman realized he stepped on an important sign. Stan goes to ‘borrow’ a piece of paper from a tourist and write down the original signs message, then proceeding to tape it (with the stolen tape from another tourist) to the wall of the old shack. “Well now that that’s out of the way, let’s get started on the tour.”

As they went through the halls, most of the tourists were fascinated by everything by everything even if most of them knew it was all fake. Pearl wasn’t very satisfied with everything while the rest of the group were nicer about it even if they knew it was definitely fake, I mean only gem creatures exist right?

As the tour ended with no incidents (well Amethyst did try to jump in the ‘endless pit ‘ but let’s not count that) the group were about ready to go when they noticed the gift shop they were standing in. Even with no intentions of buying anything they still looked around. While they did find nothing to buy Steven saw a help wanted sign. Maybe he’d stay here for a week longer and get a job so then the rest of the expenses are paid off when they restart travelling. He shared his idea with everyone and they thought it was a good one even if they had the money without the job, it would make Steven feel more human if he got his first job.

He saw someone cleaning up and asked them if the requirements for the job. 

“Well you should talk about that with Mr Pines” the worker said. “Oh yeah he’s the guy who gave you a tour” Soos finished pointing at the conman. 

“Okay thank you sir” the teenager replied as he goes up to Mr Pines for the info. “Hey sir you had a help wanted sign and I was wondering the requirements for this jo-”

“You’re hired kid” 

“Bu-”

“You’re the only one who asked and probably will be the only one. But I will have to interview you a bit tho…” The conman said as he drags the teenager into the next room to discuss with him. “Well do you have any work experience kid?”

As Steven was thinking about all the jobs he’s done, he realizes that he’s only had one human job which was one day at the Big Donut. Even if he doesn’t consider that a job, it’s still work experience. “Well I worked at a donut shop for a day and I have some self defence experience too” the last part was also true as could indeed defend himself.

“And your name, social security number and also do you have a driver's license, it would help to just pass it to me so then we can get this over with”

Steven knew he didn’t have a driver's license nor a social security number but he did know his name of course so he answered truthfully. “My name is Steven Quartz Cutiepie DeMayo Diamond Universe, Steven Universe for short and I have no birth certificate, social security number nor drivers license. I am 16 almost 17 and my birthday is august 15th.” Ok that sounding very wrong but no taking back I guess

“And who was driving that car outside?” He didn’t care much about everything his future employee said but still wanted to know the driver of the car just in case he needed to talk to the parents.

“I was driving it sir. Sorry i should leave now I’m realizing I’ve broken to many law-”

“You’re hired kid, you’re living off the gouvernent and I can respect that”

“What!? Are you sure, I’m sure you can get in trouble if you hire me!”

“Ha! Don’t worry kid, I’ve been living off the gouvernent for years! Anyways you start tomorrow.”

“What?”

“I said you start tomorrow kid, also tell your family to get out if they don’t want anything, that’s loitering.”

“Okay I’ll tell them! Bye sir!”

“Just call me Mr Pines.”

“Oh okay Mr Pines.”

As he and his family were trying to find a place to stay at they saw two kids getting chased by what seemed to be a bunch of… gnomes?

“Hey I’ll be right back just have to make sure they don’t get hurt.” The teenager said

“Steven you don’t need to do that, even if they do seem in danger” the rockstar replies even if it was too late as the teenager comes out if the car.

“Hey are you two kids okay” Steven said as he runs at the same speed as the golf cart


	2. Arriving in the Falls part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven meets the twins and help save them from the gnomes who want to marry Mabel. And his dad has some news for him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We continue where we left of

“Hey are you two kids okay” Steven said as he runs at the same speed as the golf cart

“Well no not really!” Screamed the sweater fanatic

“What does it look like!” Snarked the investigator

“Can I help you!!” Said the teenager 

“Well if you can stop these guys from chasing us then I guess you can.” Dipper replied in obvious sarcasm

“Oh yeah that would work! You’re such a genius bro-bro!” Said Mabel clearly not understanding her brother’s sarcasm 

Steven knew that he could just indeed put up a shield against the hoard or a bubble around the twins but it would in turn blow his human cover. He then remembered a couple of tools in his trunk and grabbed one. It was a leaf blower.  
‘Well that’s pretty useless’ he thought ‘But I’d they go to far I won’t catch up so I guess this is my only option even if it won’t do much…” He didn’t know how much he was wrong

“Well I have this leaf blower!!” The teen shouted

“What’s that gonna do!” The investigator screamed in annoyance

“Wait Dipper I have an idea…” Mabel whispered to her twin  
“Just trust me on this one”

As the sweater fanatic stopped the car and got out with the leaf blower behind her back, practically everyone at the scene were confused but the gnomes were overjoyed.

“Gnomes listen… I’ll become your queen as long as you leave my brother alone ok?”

“Deal!” Jeff said as he and Mabel were leaning for a kiss Mabel pulls out the leaf blower and sucks him in. After defeating the other gnomes she went back to Steven and Dipper, the former helping her brother with covering his injuries as he had some bandaids in his pocket from what it seems

“Thank you sir for the leaf blower! It really saved us!” Thanked Mabel   
“And Dipper… look I’m really sorry for trusting some stupid guy over you. It got us in so much trouble and all of it could’ve been prevented if I just listened to you.”

“It’s ok Mabel, I shouldn’t of been such a jerk about it. I should’ve trusted you too.”

“Well bro-bro… I think we both messed up.”

“Steven are you okay!?” A voice called in the background. Steven knew it was Greg but the twins didn’t even know his name never mind his dad

“Yeah Dad I’m ok but these are the ones who were getting chased not me.” Steven replied

“Oh thank god!” Sighed the band manager   
“And for you kids, sorry for focusing on my son instead of the ones who were most likely to get hurt… are you guys ok?”

Yeah we are Steven’s Dad and it’s fine since it is your son after all!” Reassured Mabel “It was nice to meet you Steven and Steven’s Dad! Will we ever see you again?

“Well I work at the Mystery Shack starting tomorrow so if you guys live in Gravity Falls you may see me more often!”

“Well my son here is in a road trip and is staying here for more time but I’m going home as I’m realizing that Steven can take care of himself and he still has some of his family with him so I feel like that’s enough. Especially that the car is really cramped.”

Wait what?! Dad you never told me about this and did you tell the g- rest of our family about this?!”

“Well I decided it in the car and the g-”

Wait can you repeat what you said Steven?” Mabel asked

“Dad you nev-”

“No silly the first thing you said!”

“Oh! I work at the Mystery Shack starti-”

“Steven do you know what this means?” She squealed 

“What?”

You’re gonna see us all the time!” She squealed again and she jumped in the air with her arms spread out

“I don’t understand?”

“Well let me explain” Dipper stepped in  
“You see we’re staying with our Grunkle Stan this summer and if you didn’t know, he’s the guy who runs the Mystery Shack. Meaning that you’ll be seeing us the entire time you’re gonna be working there.”

“Oh ok i understand now! Anyways I guess to won’t see you in a while so bye for now.”

“Bye son.” Greg said as he patted his son on the shoulder then hugged him

As he went for a walk to the bus stop as the trio were walking back to the Mystery Shack. They said goodbye as Steven went in the car and the reins continued walking towards their summer home with one more reason to love it.

“Guess Greg is already gone.” Remarked the purple gem as Steven came in

“Yeah he is” said the teenager

“And did you manage to help those kids out?” Questioned Pearl 

“Yep! Not only that but apparently there the relatives of Mr Pines and are staying over for the summer!”

“That’s great Steven.” Responded the married fusion

“You know I’m feeling like maybe we are gonna be staying here longer than expected. Anyways goodnight guys!”

“Goodnight Steven” the gems responded


	3. Not a chapter

I forgot to write for this for a month then realized I haven't posted in a while. I've been trying to write for this since but im not sure when I'll update. Should be in a couple of days tho, just trying to make the chapter at least more then a 1000 words long

Until next time!


	4. First Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven works his first day and the Mystery Shack and he overhears and accepts the offer to joint them in finding something in the woods of good ol’ Gravity Falls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry for not posting in a while, I’ll try not to go on a hiatus this long again
> 
> And as a very wise being once said ‘Did you miss me? Admit it you miss me’

As the teenager started driving to the Mystery Shack, he hoped that he wasn't too early since it was currently 7 am but he was worried that he'll be too late at the same time if he didn't come right now. Of course, deep inside, he knew that Mr. Pines wouldn't be mad as he didn't say when to arrive but the thought of getting fired before he even worked any shifts terrified him.

After all, the guy was probably gonna be the only one who would hire him after him being proved as legally non-existent but for now, he was gonna have a great day and the gems hopefully will as just a couple minutes ago he dropped them off at the entrance of the town so then they could explore it as he did just yesterday

His knocks on the door could be heard from the attic at _least_

”Whoever you are knocking this early, the shack’s closed until 9” the conman said gruffly 

”Hi Mr. Pines! It's Steven, your new employee!” Steven shouted from the other side of the door

”Oh, come in then”

”So is this the right time?” the teen questioned as he entered the shack

”Not really but you're new so you should get trained up”

”Are you gonna be doing that sir?”

”No my other employee will”

”The guy with a question mark shirt you mean?”

”No not Soos, Wendy. You know the cash register girl who if you didn't see her I need to have a chat with her”

”Yeah I saw her! Is she here at the moment?”

”She’ll arrive very soon, in the meanwhile I should mention that my nibblings are staying over for the summer so that's what the kids in the house not buying anything are”

”Oh I knew that already. I met them when my family and I saw a dog and I stopped to let it pass, just to make sure that it didn't get hit I got out of the car and met your niblings, speaking if which what is a Grunkle and what are niblings

”Grunkle is great uncle mashed together, don't wanna feel old so I told them to call me that, as for niblings it's just the word used for both nephews and nieces so since I have one of each I call them my niblings. They should be up anytime soon so I guess it'll make a reunion”

“No problem Mr Pines, I guess I should just wait for this Wendy girl?”

“Yep, I’ll be… doing private business so if you need me just call me and don’t try looking for me got it?”

“Yes Mr Pines! I won’t disappoint you.”

“We’ll see ya later Steve”

”Its Steven”

”Same thing, look as long as you do a good job I’ll try to remember to call you that”

Around thirty minutes later, Wendy arrived along with Soos. The only reason why Soos wasn't there beforehand was that he was helping his Abuelita that morning and he’d lost track of time

As the redhead saw the new employee, she knew that he was new in town as she hadn't ever seen him around in Gravity Falls and not only that but nobody in their right minds would work here if they lived around these parts long enough

”Welcome new guy, guessing that you're the new guy”

”Yep I'm Steven Universe! Guessing you're Wendy, the person who is supposed to train me”

”Hi Steven, Stan never mentioned it to me. Not surprising… But I guess I could do that for you” ‘I hope he pays me for this’ Wendy mumbled, hoping he wouldn’t hear, which he didn't

As Steven was finishing his relatively short training, he saw two familiar twins chasing each other 

”Mabel! Give my hat back to me!” 

”Finders Keepers!”

”Mabel! I was asleep next to it, it doesn’t count!”

”Hey hey hey, Mabel give Dipper his hat back” the teen finally intervened

”Aw… What? Come on, it's fun seeing Dipper getting mad”

”Stealing isn't very nice Mabel, please give it back”

”Ok…” she finally agreed with a pout as she gave her brother his new hat back

”Say Dipper? Is that a new hat you have on or is that another one you brought here?”

”No, it's new… Grunkle Stan let us pick something for free because ’I accidentally overstocked the shop’” the boy explained, imitating his uncle on the last part 

”Well that was very nice of him, anyway so im gonna go dust the shelves” He went to get the rags and cleaning spray but before that he overheard the twins talking about going to exploring the woods to find this ’Fluvius Cantus’ that was in this journal that Dipper seemed to keep. Though it must have belonged to someone else or else they wouldn’t have to go find the river 

  


The day went on quick and soon enough, it was time for ‘mission find the weird river thingy that my brother’s nerd book talked about’ as Mabel called it. He had agreed to come with them when the enthusiastic girl asked.

As Steven saw the two other employees leave, he went to go for the adventure that awaits him, and just like that, his first day at work and his first full day in Gravity Falls was coming to a close

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well we all know where this is going


	5. The River

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven and the twins go find the river they sought out to find earlier that day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I'm back! Hope you enjoy the new chapter!

Before they went, however, Steven decided to introduce the twins to the gems, which at the beginning of the day he asked them to get something to cover their gems. At first, they asked why to which Steven responded that he wants to introduce them to the people he’ll meet but still keep his gem side a secret. The gems at first were confused ”Steven… Amethyst and Garnet can't disguise themselves as humans because you know… Humans aren't normally purple” Pearl had said,” So we shouldn't even need to hide our gems...” ”Yeah dude, can't exactly shapeshift my colour!” the purple gem had stated

But they did it anyway to make Steven happy, this trip was about making him feel human and if they needed to hide their gems for him to feel like that, then they would do exactly that

When Steven introduced the twins to his family Dipper had questioned why ’the tall one’ and ’your sister I think’ are purple to which Steven replied that they had a rare skin condition with only two known cases being them. The teenager knew he could get away with this as the kids didn't have the internet here and he hoped he would build enough courage to tell them the truth in the 3 months they'll spend together so then when they get home and possibly search it, they won't find that it was a bunch of baloney

”Well it's nice to meet you Dipper and Mabel, what unique names you both have. They're lovely” the white gem had complemented reminiscing about the good times they had on their road trip

They had gone to visit a space museum a while back and one exhibit was about the constellations to which Pearl was the most interested in as throughout all her thousands of years of existence, throughout all the space travel she did, she never noticed the shapes the stars made. The big dipper and little dipper being two of those constellations at that exhibit

They had also made a friend with a girl named Mabel at an ice cream shop. She was wearing a pin of a transgender flag and when Amethyst asked what it was she had told them she was transgender which was when you were born as the wrong gender and had to correct it if you wanted to feel happy. The girl had said that she was part of the LGBT community. After Garnet started talking about how she was in a relationship with a girl

(apparently, she had found out about it when ruby searched on the internet about why some people looked a bit judgmental at their wedding, mentioning in her search the fact that some people were whispering comments about how the two of them were girls which was why she was mentioning it as the websites she went on said things about people being against the LGBT community)

Mabel suggested they go with her to the nearest pride parade to learn about her community and all the wonderful people there. The group had an amazing time

Garnet had said that she hoped to get to know them and told Mabel (the sweater loving one, not the ice cream shop one) that if she needed some help with love then she was the person to come to (after hearing about the gnome be incident from the two kids she figured that the girl was looking for love)

”If you dudes want to hang out and cause some trouble then I'm the person to come too!” Amethyst had invited

”Amethyst! They're only children, they shouldn't get in trouble!” the white gem scolded as she grabbed the twins closer to her

The group continued talking and getting to know each other before Steven said that he and the twins were going on a trip in the woods and should hopefully come back before sundown so they said goodbye and went to walk into the unknown

This was an extremely long walk so hopefully, he wasn't mistaken to come along

Well anyways then went to the woods of the town the gems and Steven would be living in for a while  
——————————————————

”I once crushed on a guy made of gnomes and now he's...um…Removed, yeah that rhymes, right?” the girl sang awkwardly

This was a mistake

He shouldn't have come along… Sure it was nice going out on a walk in the woods and spending time getting to know the people he would be spending his entire summer with if all goes well but… It had been hours since they've been walking and he was getting bored. Steven thought about the fact that Mabel’s singing was getting annoying but it made him feel bad that he was thinking that as she was definitely getting bored too. But nothing could compare to what Dipper must be feeling right now

After all, the boy was responsible for leading the way for everyone and couldn't just get distracted or else… They'd get lost in here. Honestly, they probably did get lost at this point but still

_’You know what… We are lost, I think I saw that Dipper was writing the directions we went in so maybe if I just warn him about our situa-’_

”Found it!” Dipper yelled

_’-tion, well at least we found the dang river’_

”Dipper are you sure you found it tho? Does that journal describe the river or something, this looks like any old river to me” the teenager said

”No of course not!” the boy said as his voice cracked ”He drew it”

Dipper then showed Steven his journal for the first time and the river looks the same as it did on the page

”Well now that we found this river, I want to have a swim. I mean after Dippy here checks the water for spooky monsters of course, wouldn't be in the journal without a reason!” Mabel stated

”Sure Mabes, as long as there's no ’spooky monsters’ then you can go swim in it”

”Hold on you two, I'm pretty sure rivers go really fast, maybe it isn't the greatest idea to swim in it, you know… Safety and all” the teenager interrupted

You know, maybe it wasn't a mistake to come along… Without him telling them this then they surely would have drowned right?

”Actually this river doesn't flow at all, huh… Maybe that's why it's in the journal?”

Steven bent down to feel the river as Dipper was doing and…

Yeah, he was wrong...Wait… What if this is really deep!

”And the waters like… Half a meter deep!” Dipper stated as he stood in the water, proving Steven wrong once again, the teenager even did the same as the kid to see if Dipper was right on that too and he was met with that, 50 centimetres…

Stars, guess he was wrong on that too, he was so useless…

”Well, since you guys aren't getting eaten by monsters I guess I'll just jump in then!” Mabel interrupted the teenager's train of thought as she jumped in the river, taking off her purple sweater with a heart and sunglasses before doing so

Dipper went to go sit on a nearby log to take notes about the river, seeming as the author never specified why it was in the journal

 _’I have found out that Fluvius Cantus doesn't flow, instead, it just lays still like a lake or a pool would. It also seems to have no sea creatures or plants which may have something to do with why Fluvius Cantus stays still’_ the paranormal investigator wrote

Suddenly the only girl in the group of explorers got out of the lake looking rather ill

”Ugh, I think we should head back… I feel really tired and my legs feel like they were never there” Mabel complained reasonably

”Me too actually, I feel like we should get home quickly before one of us passes out. But if one of us or both of us pass out then… Say, Steven? Can we count on you to be responsible for carrying us home? And the directions are opposite when going back by the way” Dipper said

”Im feeling tired too so I can't say I wi” Steven started worrying about what would happen if he passed out ”So we should hurry home, it's past sundown which makes me feel glad you brought a flashlight, but it also means that bugs and possibly dangerous animals will be attracted to the light”

Suddenly everything went black for Steven as his eyes went heavy

Next went Mabel, then Dipper were also shrouded in darkness in darkness

Dipper then saw pink clouds start filling the darkness

’Am I dreaming? Wait no one thinks that entering a dream so maybe I'm awake or something’ he then looked around ’Wait I'm alone! That means I'm dreaming-’

”Ah” the boy said has he felt something tap on his shoulder, ”Who’s there!”

”Why hello little human” Dipper slowly turned to the origins of the melodic voice just to find a strange creature

The creature seems like a woman with long black hair and pale skin at first glance but if you look for longer it starts to morph into a snake-like monster with a dragon’s head.

’Please say Steven and Mabel are okay and not somewhere like here’

”Do not worry little human, your friends are sound asleep. I have come to you and only you, I am the river you seeked and I am here to warn you about something” she said as she wrapped herself around Dipper with her long snake-like body

”Why did you come to me? And what do you mean by warn!?” the boy screamed with a crack voice

The river seemed displeased by the shouting but continued anyways ”I have to warn you that you have been cursed due to you touching my river and it will get worse if you mutter the words I am about to speak unless you wish to be completely freed of your humanity”

As Dipper stared confused and scared, the river started speaking in a melodic voice

”I will remove the pine needles that are stuck on my body” the river spoke softly, ”Now it may seem hard for you to ever repeat the sentence on accident but trust me it could happen in the future as you do explore these pine woods so much, anyways each time someone falls to my curse, I will warn them about what their cursed words are. Do warn people to not approach this river as the only cure to reaching normality from what I know is muttering the cursed words, but it's not human normality to say the least”

”Im not sure who you are but thanks I guess. Im guessing you're gonna go talk to my sister”

”Yes, she shines bright in the night sky so it's impossible to miss her. And my name is Fluvius Cantus, The Singing River. Goodbye little human” Fluvius then disappeared

And just like that, Dipper fell into into a deep sleep just like he would any other night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bet you didn't expect Dipper to get some spotlight. Oh just so you know, the protagonists of this story are Dipper and Steven, alternating when necessary, it will be more concentrated on Dipper even if if the story started with Steven. I just wanted to do something new for my summer job au inspired fanfic. I'll try to update more soon so see you hopefully soon!


	6. Dreams Warn Of Reality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fluvius warns the other two and Dipper suffers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait

Mabel soon found herself surrounded by the same pink clouds her twin once found himself surrounded by

_‘What is this place, cotton candy land? Well whatever this is I never want to leave!’_

”I'm afraid you will leave this place very soon dear Mabel” Fluvius spoke

”Ah! Who are you, you weird... snake person”

”I am Fluvius Cantus, the river you swam in”

”Oh that must have of been _awkward”_ Mabel said with a grin

”I’m not the actual river itself per se, more like the river's soul. Like that fantasy book you read once in 6th grade” the dragon-like creature said

”Oh that's good to know... Wait how did you know that?!” 

”Oh yet you didn't wonder why I knew your name or could answer to your thoughts, I'm simply in your mind which holds all this information, I'm here to tell you something important”

Mabel tried to float around... And succeeded not surprisingly considering this was her mind , she put her hands to her face in aw

_’Wait, is this gonna be like those movies where I'm the chosen one!’_

”Not really my dear, in reality I'm here to warn you that the river I possess is not an ordinary river and any who come in contact with it are given a phrase they cannot say or else consequences arise. I will say it and you can't even repeat it in your head, you understand Mabel?” Fluvius warned cautiously 

”Yeah yeah just get on with it!” she said both impatiently and jokingly

”Well alright, here it is: _I want to swim forever,_ you must never repeat that phrase or else it will come true, as in you will swim forever, okay dear?”

”Yep! I sure do get it! I like walking anyway so I would never say that! But why can't I think about it?” Mabel questioned

”Well let me rephrase that. You can not say that in your head if you ever end up here again, it will have the same effects as it will in the real world. The same goes for in your dreams or someone else's mind”

Mabel rethought it and remembered to not say it anywhere out loud

”Okie Dokie!”

”Well then goodbye my dear swimmer” the dragon-like creature proceeded to slither off into presumably someone else's head

Mabel started to eat some of the clouds, commenting on how they tasted like cotton candy before she went back to her normal dreams

________________________________________

The half gem awoke in a place similar to~

_’My mom’s room?’ he asked himself baffled_

”It's more like your own room, your mind is just a place that represents you, a room of sorts.” Fluvius spoke melodically 

“Ah!” Steven screamed “Who are you and how did you read my mind?”

“Well like I said Steven we’re in your mind well to be more specific, what it looks like when I’m in it. And my name is Fluvius Cantus.”

“Wait isn’t that…” he thought the name sounded familiar before it clicked, “Wait that’s the river we were looking for, why did we faint?!” He asked both angry and confused

“Well you see Steven, whoever comes in contact with my river falls under a wicked curse, I am here to warn you of it”

“Well what does it do?” He asked while putting his hands on his hips 

“I can only tell you that you will change, But I’m here more to tell you that this curse gives each person a unique set of words that will only worsen it if muttered out loud in any circumstances, even here in your mind, is that clear Steven?”

“Yes you are being clear, just tell me the words” Steven was getting worried because he had no idea what would happen but then he thought _‘Wait?! The twins came in contact too?! Are they cursed?!’_

“Yes Steven, they are. Now here are the words: _I wish to grow more petals._ Now I have to go, goodbye Steven.”

“Goodbye Miss Cantus!”

“Please just Fluvius Steven” she chuckled a bit before saying goodbye

_‘Why would I ever say that?’_

The teenager then went back to darkness

______________________________________

Dipper woke up and something felt _different_ , horribly different. He felt pain in his lower half, his nose, and his ear. He stood up to see he was the first awake. He looked at himself and his reflection to see why he was in pain and everything seemed normal except… 

_‘Why do I have white spot on my face?! What kind of curse is that!?’_

But just as Mabel woke up, the pain got so much worse

_‘I need to stop talking, wait… I mean thinking’_

“Ugh Dipper… my legs hurt a lot” his sister groaned in pain

“Mine are too actually… hey Mabel did your dreams happen to involve a snake woman?” The boy asked

“Yup!”

“Does your nose and your ears hurt too?” He asked sceptically 

“Nope! Just my good old fashioned legs”she replied with a huge smile

“Weird…”

What was also weird is that his stomach was in the worse pain he’d ever felt just a moment ago but the pain suddenly stopped, but his stomach felt like as if it had changed and everything else was still hurting

“Hey guys” a voice grumbled, that was Steven

“Hi Steven” both twins said at the same time

“So Dipper… have your eyes always looked like that?”

“What?” The boy asked slightly frightened

Indeed his eyes had changed. They looked more like eyes that a deer would have instead of a human. As he saw his reflection again to verify what Steven had said, that wasn’t the only part that terrified him. A wet black nose was replacing his human nose and the inexplicable pain in his nose was starting to make sense. At the sight of this, and the pain in his ears, lower body, and his nose getting worse, he wished he would’ve passed out because he couldn’t stand it any longer. It hurt like crazy and while his nose wasn’t hurting that much anymore, more like leftover pain from whatever the heck happened to it. He looked away from the river and then the worst pain came.

His ears and lower body 

Dipper’s ears were the first to undergo a transformation, they forcibly moved to the top of his head and changed shape, Dipper didn’t know what shape they took but they changed shape for certain. He could feel hair, or rather fur, grow on them, it felt as if they turned into new limbs because he could move them around like most animals could. 

He heard the worried shouts of both his sister and Steven, he could hear everything around him too, but it was all muffled due to everything being in agonizing pain

His lower body though, oh that was the worse  
  


He felt fur grow on it and his feet turning into tiny block-like shapes, something tube shaped was growing out his back and he could feel 3 new limbs sprouting out of that tube. 2 legs and something resembling his ears but smaller, probably a tail, and it was all covered in fur as well. At this point he wasn’t seeing anything due to him shutting his eyes so tightly as if that would reduce the pain. And seconds later, it did. Because he passed out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You won’t have to see the other characters suffer like this don’t worry


	7. Not what we used to be

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper wakes up and Steven tells the truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! It’s me again, I guess all I’ve got to say here is that this is the chapter I'm the most proud of. I feel like the writing is a lot better than most of the chapters on here. Anyways, enjoy!

When Dipper woke up, he was relieved that he wasn't in pain anymore, but…

Something was incredibly wrong.

He was aware that his body had been transformed into something else but this seemed more structural than anything else. His ears could properly move and he felt like he had… 4 legs? That was gonna need some time to get used to. He then looked to his left the best he could as he was laying sideways on the ground and saw Steven. Well, he had definitely transformed as well.

The short way to describe him was a flower creature, specifically a rose creature. The teen's skin was a light green while his hair was a very dark shade of the same colour. If anything, it seemed more like his hair had transformed into a very dark rose, thought Dipper couldn't verify this as Steven was facing forwards. His eyes had turned green as well with diamonds in them, which was strange as roses have nothing to do with diamonds. And finally, nine roses (with stems) came out of his lower back, some dark green and some light green. They looked like tails but he wasn't sure about it. The teenager also seemed to have changed his pink vest for a green vest. All the colours were hard to determine though, as it seemed like the world had a defective black and white filter over it. One thing was clear however, Steven was very worried.

”Oh! You're finally awake!” said Steven in turn startling Dipper

”How long was I out?” He asked 

”Well haha… around 4 hours”

”What?!”

”I’m sorry that I didn't wake you up Dipper, I really am, but after you passed out, Mabel started becoming a mermaid and she needed water so I had to leave you to roll her into the river and then I became this and then it got really dark and I figured I'd wait until tomorrow to wake you up but hey at least you woke up yourself!” he spoke very quickly

”Wait, Steven, it isn't dark, sure maybe a tiny bit dark but-”

”Dipper, it's practically pitch black, I only found you because of my flashlight which died two hours ago”

”Well that's weird, you know, I probably should be a lot more stressed about this but I did get warned that we got cursed so… Wait, Mabel’s a mermaid?!?” the boy started panicking

_ ’Can she breathe out of water?’,’ How will we get her back to the shack?’, ’Will we be even able to bring her back’,’ Where will we put her if she can even come back?’,  _ and many other questions circled inside the 12-year-old’s mind

Suddenly a voice rooted Dipper out of his train of thought ”Dipper! Are you okay?!”, it was Steven

_ ’Am I okay… Definitely not, I'm more…’ _

”I’m scared, Steven… what happened to us?! And how will we get Mabel back!? Can she even breathe out of water?!” Dipper said as his worries grew stronger

”Well good news is, she can breathe out of water, the only reason why I needed to put her into the water that... Well, have you ever seen a goldfish move effectively out of its tank?”

”I see your point. That solves the biggest issue on hand.”

”Dipper, I'm not even sure if  _ you  _ can even go back, last time I checked, you were half deer. Kinda like a centaur” the teenager said nonchalantly 

“What!? Oh no, I knew something was wrong, but never something this bad!” That would explain the four legs but still!

“Anyways, let’s just sleep because we can’t do anything now” Steven finally spoke after the awkward silence

“But don’t you remember me being able to see in the dark?”

“Oh yeah! I have no idea why you can do it, but that will be really helpful. Though Mabel and I can’t come with you since we can’t see in the dark. Maybe you can try to find some help, preferably from the gems”

“The gems?”

Steven had realized that he messed up, but at this point, he knew that he couldn’t hide it much longer. 

“Well you see… that’s what they are, the people you met, well apart from my dad, are all not humans but instead, they’re gems. Please don’t get mad at me for lying to you guys!” He said with a couple tears slowly forming in his eyes

“Steven… Why would we get mad at you for that? My name’s not even Dipper, so I shouldn’t get mad at someone lying about their identity as well, well if you are related to them that is?”

Steven felt so comforted by those words, he didn’t know if Dipper was saying this because things were confusing and getting mad at each other wouldn’t help anyone or because he really meant it but it made him so happy to hear that.

“Thank you Dipper… I’m half gem so I guess I half lied about my identity?” He said while scratching the back of his head “Well you’ve gotta go find the gems, they’re most likely in the same spot we left from, especially Pearl. Stars, she must be worried sick, bring that journal of yours with you, you wrote all our directions in there right?”

The half deer started steadily getting up and started walking, he was very shaky of course but that was expected right? This body was presumably 4 and a half hours old, but even that’s stretching it. And plus, the weight of a fawn’s head is a lot smaller than the entire upper half of a human.

“Wait!! I need to come with you, I may not be able to see very well but I can walk very well.” If Steven could see the look Dipper was giving him, he would of known that this was embarrassing for him

“Well if you insist… but since you can’t see, you might as well be as clumsy as I am.”

“I’m coming no matter what!” He said with a smile

“Well okay, help me lead the way flower man!” Dipper said as a smirk appeared on his face

“Let’s do this!” Steven smiled as his eyes grew white stars in them

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did some research on deer's to get my facts right, so here are some deer facts you see in this chapter:
> 
> Fawns can stand up 10 minutes after they’re born and can walk 7 hours after they're born (Dipped can kinda walk in here because he already knows how to walk with human legs which are similar enough)
> 
> Deer's can see in the dark, however, it appears practically black and white
> 
> Finally, Steven is actually pink, but deer practically have red-green colour blindness which I put onto Dipper. For any of you who know more about that though, please correct any mistakes I made and will make in the future because at some point, Dipper’s gonna realize this so this won't be the only colour description I do
> 
> That's it for deer facts, see you next time


	9. Out of the woods

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long for an update. Hopefully I’ll upload twice this month to compensate

“Well, where to next Dipper?” the new flower creature asked inquisitively as he held the new, what both of them agreed on calling ’deertaur’, with one of his tails to make sure his guide wouldn't fall

”The next steps seem to be  _ ’right, left, left, right, right, left.”  _ the boy said as he read through the two entire pages he dedicated to their directions. Something then caught his now rectangular eyes

”This is the last line!” Dipper exclaimed brightly 

”That's great Dipper! Hopefully, Mabel got back home without us but if she didn't then we could just come back with the help we need” Steven spoke excitedly but also tiredly as he’d been awake the whole time. They'd been walking through the giant woods for around 3 hours (now that Steven started being a lot more concerned and focused than on their way here, he calculated the precise amount of time they had taken) and the sun was halfway up. 

After about 5 minutes of walking, both now monsters heard the shouts of a familiar voice

“Steven! Dipper! Over here!” they started to see that it was Pearl

Steven let go of Dipper as both of them started running towards the worried gem. As soon as they got close though, she had a frightened look on her face.

“Oh my stars, what happened to you two?” she asked in an extremely terrified voice as she put her hands to her face

Both of the supernatural beings looked at themselves and Dipper was the first to give an answer

“When we went to the river that I told you about, we fainted and all of us got contacted by the spirit of the river. She said something about a cursed phrase and how we were cursed. I'm trying to think of why this happened anyways.” Dipper said with a thinking face.

Pearl had a look of relief on her face that while it confused Dipper immensely, Steven understood why she felt the relief. The white gem probably thought it was some type of human corruption and in this state, his healing spit most likely wouldn't work leaving them stuck like this. But the question remains, are they stuck like this either way?

The three of them walked to the van and were greeted with very shocked faces. Well, Garnet didn't seem super shocked but it's hard to tell with her visors on

“Wow, dudes! You look even more weird than girl Dipper.” Amethyst said in a shocked tone

“Wait, you've seen Mabel?!” Dipper shouted in shock

“Well yeah dudes, she can swim. We found her at that really big lake just hanging out. P was still looking for you guys so that's probably why she didn't tell you two.”

“Wait, then why were you two so shocked when you saw us, and Steven told me when we were walking here that Garnet can see the future so even if she didn't see Mabel as a monster, she would be that shocked would she? The deertaur said while turning his head to the side

“Well, I can answer both of your questions. Mabel doesn't have many changes to her. And like Amethyst said, you two look a lot less human than she does. And as for your second question, I'd first like to ask. Did Steven tell you the truth?” Garnet spoke quietly

“Yeah… Something about you guys being gems or something. That's why he told me about your future vision.”

Garnet stopped looking at the deer and looked at Steven, smiling and nodding before looking back to Dipper

“I'm glad he did. But to answer your question, all you need to know is that I see possibilities, not the definitive future. The most common one I saw about you two is that you'd come back with deer ears while Steven would come with a couple of roses in his hair. This is a lot worse than why I expected so it's why I was pretty surprised.”

Dipper came to a look of understanding and got in the car alongside Steven who'd already got in while Garnet was explaining their future vision

The boy was extremely uncomfortable in between Amethyst and Steven so he moved behind them, he then realized something

“How am I going to sit in a chair?” He asked to see if anyone had the answer

“I don’t know, maybe you’ll just sit on it like you’re sitting right now or… you can stand or sit on the floor.” the purple gem said

“Wait Amethyst, you made me realize something. How are we gonna work with these forms?!” Steven asked in a panicked way

And at that moment, the two monsters in the car realized something awful. How were they going to live their lives?! There’s no way they can disguise themselves as humans and even if Stan find a way for them to still work at the shack, they still have lives outside of that.

“How am I gonna go back home!?” Dipper panicked, he really loved Gravity Falls so far but he still loved his home back in Piedmont more. He was sure his parents were still gonna accept him in any form he takes but how about his peers. 

_ ‘They made fun of me for my  _ birthmark _ so what are they going to say about this?!’ _

As for Steven his thoughts went more along the lines of this:

_ ‘I just want to be human, is that too much to ask!? Am I really just meant to be supernatural?’ _

And while they were thinking about how much this was going to affect their lives, the van stopped.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m doing art for every chapter now. Also look at chapter three, I figured how to add art and out some in there :)
> 
> This is my designs for the monster falls versions of these characters btw, also excuse the really bad lighting. I forgot that it was sunrise and not mid day


End file.
